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Dear White People (film)
Main article: Dear White People Dear White People was a 2014 independent drama movie created and directed by Justin Simien. Synopsis Samantha White is a heritage media arts major at the fictional Winchester University, a prestigious and predominantly white school. With her sharp tongued and witty radio show ''Dear White People'' and her self-published book, Ebony and Ivy, Sam causes a stir among the administration and student body alike, criticizing white people and the racist transgressions at Winchester. When Sam wins the election for head of house of Armstrong/Parker, the all-black house on campus, tensions rise. In winning the election, she defeats her ex-boyfriend Troy Fairbanks, the son of the school's dean. Troy harbors dreams of being a comedic writer rather than a lawyer, but his father prefers that he not give white people a chance to profile him, and will accept nothing less than his best. Coco has an issue with Sam because the reality TV producer she is trying to win over would rather do a show on the witty light-skinned black girl than her. Lionel Higgins, a black gay student, gets a chance at finally finding his place at Winchester by being recruited by the school's most prestigious student paper to write a piece on Sam and the black experience at Winchester. When Kurt, a white student and son of the school's president, and his club come up with a blackface theme for their annual party in response to Sam's outspoken show, black students appear at the party, and a confrontation ensues, leading to a brawl.Wikipedia: Dear White People (film) Cast & Crew Cast *Tessa Thompson as Samantha White *Tyler James Williams as Lionel Higgins *Kyle Gallner as Kurt Fletcher *Teyonah Parris as Collandrea "Coco" Conners *Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks *Malcolm Barrett as Helmut West *Dennis Haysbert as the Dean *Brittany Curran as Sophie Fletcher *Marque Richardson as Reggie *Peter Syvertsen as President Hutchinson *Justin Dobies as Gabe *Brandon Alter as George *Keith Myers as Black Mitch *Naomi Ko as Sungmi *Kate Gaulke as Annie *Brian Curtis James as Martin *Ashley Blaine Featherson as Curls *Jemar Michael as Dreads *Courtney Sauls as Wild *Nia Jervier as Coco's Friend Crew *'Directors' **Justin Simien *'Producers' **Justin Simien *'Writers' **Justin Simien Development Simien spent five years writing the script beginning in 2007. The next year, he made a trailer to promote and gain attention and funds for his project, which went viral. He also launched a campaign at Indiegogo to raise $25,000 but he got an overwhelming response and managed to raise $40,000 instead. The project won Indiewire's Project of the Year title and Simien was later invited to 2013 Tribeca Film Festival to participate in Filmmaker/Industry meetings hosted by the festival. Talking about Tribeca Film Festival, Simien said that "we had a lot of meetings with a lot of studios. We had a lot of conversations with studios and distributors and basically, we decided that the best offer on the table was from an independent financier, Julie Lebedev of Code Red Films. To make it independently, that was really the dream -- because then we could make the movie we wanted to make." Filming Principal photography took place in late September 2013 in Minnesota, including at the University of Minnesota and other locations in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and in Los Angeles, including the UCLA campus. The filming was completed in 19 days. Simien shot the film with Red Epic digital camera and said that "I would love to shoot on film. I don't believe it's completely dead, but this format made a lot of sense for our production." See also *[[Dear White People|''Dear White People (2017-)]] *[[Wikipedia:White People (film)|''White People]] References Navigation Category:Dear White People